評論
打印
"Do you want to go to work for me?" the merchant asked.
“你愿意為我干活嗎？”水晶商人問。
"I can work for the rest of today," the boy answered.
“今天可以。”男孩回答說，
"I'll work all night, until dawn, and I'll clean every piece of crystal in your shop.
“天亮前，我會把店里所有的水晶都擦干凈。
In return, I need money to get to Egypt tomorrow."
作為交換，我需要盤纏，明天我得趕到埃及。”
The merchant laughed.
水晶商人笑了。
"Even if you cleaned my crystal for an entire year ...
“哪怕你一整年都給我擦水晶，
even if you earned a good commission selling every piece, you would still have to borrow money to get to Egypt.
哪怕你從每一件賣出去的商品中都能掙到可觀的傭金，仍必須借一筆錢才能去埃及。
There are thousands of kilometers of desert between here and there."
從丹吉爾到金字塔，要穿過幾千公里的沙漠呢。”
There was a moment of silence so profound that it seemed the city was asleep.
一時間，周圍一片寂靜，似乎整個城市都靜止不動了。
No sound from the bazaars, no arguments among the merchants, no men climbing to the towers to chant.
集市里的貨攤、商人們的吵鬧、爬到清真寺塔尖上的誦經(jīng)的人，全都不復存在了。
No hope, no adventure, no old kings or personal legends, no treasure, and no Pyramids.
希望和冒險、老邁的王和天命、寶藏和金字塔，全都不復存在了。
It was as if the world had fallen silent because the boy's soul had.
仿佛整個世界都停滯了，因為男孩的心已經(jīng)死了。
He sat there, staring blankly through the door of the café, wishing that he had died, and that everything would end forever at that moment.
只有透過酒吧小門投向外面的失神目光，只有尋死的強烈愿望，只有讓一切都在這一刻永遠結(jié)束的強烈愿望。
The merchant looked anxiously at the boy.
水晶商人驚恐地看著男孩。
All the joy he had seen that morning had suddenly disappeared.
上午在男孩身上見到的快樂，突然之間不見蹤影。
"I can give you the money you need to get back to your country, my son," said the crystal merchant.
“孩子，我可以給你回家的錢。”水晶商人說。
The boy said nothing. He got up, adjusted his clothing, and picked up his pouch.
男孩仍舊沉默著。隨后，他站起身來，整理了一下衣服，拿起他的褡褳。
"I'll work for you," he said.
“先生，我將為您打工。”他說。
And after another long silence, he added, "I need money to buy some sheep."
又沉默了一陣之后，他說道：“我需要錢，好去買些羊。”
